Free Best in Show by Laurien Berenson Page B

did.
    â€œI’m so sorry.” The words sounded, and felt, wholely inadequate. I reached out my arms and gathered the small woman in a hug. “I know we’d just met, but your sister seemed like a wonderful person.”
    â€œShe was.” Edith Jean sniffled loudly. “Sister was everything to me, just as I was to her.”
    â€œWhy don’t you go home?” I said gently. “You don’t have to be here. I can cope with the raffle. I’m sure the club will find someone to help me.”
    â€œYou don’t know what it’s like.” Edith Jean’s voice quivered slightly, but her shoulders were straight and strong. “Where else would I go? What else would I do? This is where I belong right now.”
    I wasn’t sure I understood, but I certainly wasn’t about to argue. “Then this is where you should be,” I said.

7
    I reached around her and took the rope handle. Edith Jean winced slightly as I brushed past her bandaged right hand. She held it up out of the way as we began to walk. The dolly wasn’t heavy, but it was cumbersome on the grass.
    â€œWhat happened?” I asked, nodding toward the bandage.
    â€œIt’s nothing. Just a silly accident I had this morning in the hotel room. I was making myself a cup of coffee and I guess I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been. I burned my hand on the hot water.”
    Of course she’d been distracted, I thought. The woman’s sister had died less than twelve hours earlier. “Did you see a doctor?”
    Edith Jean snorted. “Now where would I find a doctor around here? You young people think every little bump and scrape has to be seen by a specialist. No wonder the medical profession is such a mess. I ran it under cold water, then I bandaged it up and got on with my life.”
    I peered at the wrapping on her hand. If I wasn’t mistaken, it consisted of a layer of gauze held in place by vet wrap, a stretchy product that Poodle people used to contain their dogs’ ear hair. “Yes, but—”
    â€œBut nothing. I’m fine. End of discussion.”
    When we reached the table, Eve stood up and came out to greet us. Edith Jean spared me a withering glance. “Second day on the job, and already you’re making the rules?”
    â€œSorry. I wasn’t expecting you. I didn’t think anyone would even notice she was here.”
    Despite her objection, Edith Jean didn’t seem overly concerned. She gave Eve a long, assessing look. “Very pretty. Is she one of Peg’s?”
    â€œPeg’s breeding, yes. But I bred her myself.” As I said the words, I realized it sounded as though I were bragging. “My first litter,” I added, so she wouldn’t get the wrong idea.
    She reached out and scratched the puppy lightly under the chin. Any Poodle person knows better than to put their hands in a dog’s long hair. Caresses, by necessity, are confined to the clipped areas. Eve responded by leaning toward her and arching her back.
    â€œYou did a nice job for a beginner. I remember when Sister and I were starting out. Years ago, that was. We would have been delighted to have something this nice right off the bat”
    Abruptly Edith Jean fell silent. I wondered if she was thinking about the good times she’d shared with her sister. Good times that had suddenly come to an end the night before.
    â€œYou don’t have to stay here,” I said again. “I’ll take care of everything until the club finds someone else to take over. Do you have family in Georgia? Wouldn’t you feel better going home to them?”
    â€œSister was my family,” E.J. said softly. “We only had each other. There was a time when things were different . . .” She paused, gazed off into the distance, then continued after a minute. “Sister and I had been looking forward to this show all year. She would be very